I quickly turned to look at Steve and knew from the way he was sitting that he was slightly interested in what was going on but didn't want Aaron and Jeff to know. I could tell Soda knew that too from the way he raised his eye brows at me. But Steve's face remained emotionless. And he still sat in the chair as far down as you could possibly go without falling on the floor.
"My turn!" Aaron said with a grin. "Are you ready?"
I nodded and Soda shrugged. Steve sort of sighed as if the whole thing bored him which Aaron ignored.
"I didn't grow up on the east side like Jeff did. Believe it or not, I'm from the west side. I was a soc. Probably as socy as you can get." Aaron looked at each of us carefully. Probably to see if we'd try to jump him or not. None of us moved, although Steve did make some sort of noise that was a cross between a snort and a sigh.
"Cool it Steve." Soda said softly. Only Soda can tell Steve to cool it. If it had been me or anyone else, Steve would have lost his temper. But because Soda said it, Steve just crossed his arms and pretended not to listen.
"I still live on the west side. But I don't really hang out with the socs anymore. I almost destroyed my life with all the partying and stuff. You all think we have all the money in the world to spend, don't you? Just because we live in the nicer neighborhoods." Aaron watched as Soda and I nodded. "Well, I thought that, too. I had bought a car a bunch of clothes not to mention every Beatles album I could find. Along with that, I would buy beer and other stuff."
"You're not much older than me. how did you get beer?" Soda asked.
"My parents are friends with a person who owns a liquior store. He would let me buy beer even though I don't have an ID and am under age." Aaron explained.
"Oh." Soda said.
"Anyway, the more I had, the more I spent. And I developed a bad drinking habit. I started out because all of my friends were doing it. And I liked how it felt once I was drunk. Although the hang over after was never fun." Aaron shook his head at the memory of drinking beer with his friends.
I snuck another look at Steve who was busy picking pebbles out of the bottom of his shoes. He glanced up briefly and gave me a look, then went back to his shoes. I noticed that Soda had removed his shoes. Not that I was surprised, Soda always takes off his shoes when he can.
Aaron continued with his story. "I got to a point where I was spending money just so that I could buy something. It didn't matter if I needed it or already had it, if I saw it, I had to buy it. Eventually, I was spending my entire allowance on junk I really didn't need. Most socs don't need half the stuff they buy. Eventually, I started stealing money from my parents. Taking some out of my mom's purse or my dad's wallet. I even stole money out of my little seven year old sister's piggy bank."
"You stole from a kid?" Soda asked and I could tell from his face that he couldn't imagine ever stealing anything from Ponyboy.
"Yeah. And that's how I ended up here." Aaron sighed. "Sarah, that's my sister, walked in one day when I was taking money out of her piggy bank. She ran and told my mom. I thought about denying it. But how can you deny something when someone saw you do it? And the look of betrayal on Sarah's face was something I never thought I'd see and I hope I never see it again."
Jeff stood up and walked to where Steve was sitting. But he just stood there and nodded for Aaron to continue.
"Well, my mom told my dad what had happened and at first he wanted to kick me out of the house. But then my mom insisted that I come here. That it would be good for me. At first I was against the whole thing. Oh, I came. But I sat in the back and tried to disrupt everything that went on. I would even get up several times to go to the bathroom which was really leaving to wander around the building or to go outside and smoke." Aaron said trying to keep his voice steady.
"That's how we met." Jeff spoke up from where he stood behind Steve.
"It's also how I met Pastor Brian other than the usual handshake he gives when you first walk in. I had gone outside for a smoke and Jeff here had gone outside, too. At first, I thought he wanted to smoke too, but instead, he invited me to come back inside to sit with him. That's when Pastor Brian joined us. Hey, why did Pastor Brian come out that night? Did we have a guest speaker?" Aaron looked at Jeff who was now sitting on the floor next to Steve.
"I think so." Jeff replied.
"Okay, well, Pastor Brian started telling me about Jesus with Jeff's help. At first I sort nodded. You know, like when someone's talking to you and you know you have to be polite but what you really want is for them to go away and leave you alone? But then Jeff told me his story and even though he was a greaser and I was a soc, somehow, I found that I could relate to him. Like maybe we really weren't so different. I didn't accept Jesus that night. But it wasn't long before I did. Maybe a few weeks. And I haven't regretted it. I've changed a lot since then. Even stopped doing things with my old friends. I don't need any more trouble in my life."
"Did you ever give your sister back her money?" Soda asked softly.
Aaron grinned. "Yeah, I even took her out and bought her a new Barbie doll."
"And now is the time for you three to decide." Jeff said. "Do you want to accept Jesus, or not? And remember this is your decision, but it's probably the most important decision you will ever make."
I already knew what my answer would be. And when I looked at Soda, I wondered if his answer would be the same. Turning to look at Steve, I knew it would be hard to tell what he was thinking. All I knew was I hoped my decision was right, otherwise, I would end up searching again.